Men’s Basketball Edges Wentworth, 81-78 (OT)

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's basketball team earned a hard-fought 81-78 overtime victory against Wentworth on Saturday evening at MacDonald Gymnasium.

Jalen Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) paced all scorers with 28 points to go along with five assists and three rebounds.

Jeff Hill (Lynn, Mass.), Mark Barrett (Brookline, Mass.), and Parker McLaren (Newburyport, Mass.) also scored in double-figures (19, 13, 12) for the Gulls.

Endicott erased a 15-point deficit twice (1st, 31-16, 8:30 | 2nd, 49-34, 15:40), its largest in the contest, to eventually take its first lead of the game at 63-62 with 6:02 remaining.

The Gulls' second half comeback bid featured a 29-13 run over a 9:38 span (15:40-6:02).

Hill led the charge with 10 points, while Echevarria contributed nine, McLaren eight, and Barrett two (final bucket in run).

From there, Endicott scored all five of its points from the free throw line while a layup (3:55, 66-66) and a jumper (1:38, 68-68) by Wentworth forced overtime.

The extra session featured three different leads of four points for the Gulls (4:12, 72-68 | 3:26, 75-71 | 2:36 77-73) before Wentworth pulled even at 77-77 with 1:05 left on the scoreboard.

Hill and Echevarria both buried a pair of clutch free throws, which proved to be the difference as the Leopards missed a game-tying three-pointer with three seconds to go.

Barrett proceeded immediately secured the rebound off the miss, pushing the Gulls to a 4-1 record at home on the season.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Gulls are 35-10 all-time against Wentworth.
• Endicott has won 13 straight versus the Leopards dating back to 1/3/17.
• Echevarria now ranks 10th all-time in career points at Endicott (1,247).
• Secondary stats were fairly even between both programs, but the Gulls produced an 11-2 advantage in fast break points, which sparked most of their second half rally.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (9-4, 5-1 CCC) visits Nichols on Tuesday, January 10 at 7:30 PM. Wentworth (6-6, 2-4 CCC) hosts the University of New England next Tuesday at 7:30 PM. 

For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

(Photo Credit - David Le '10)